June is all but done and what a way to go out in the last week of yet another exciting month of baseball. We saw Tim Lincecum pitch his second career no hitter against the same team in the San Diego and just yesterday Cincinnati Reds Pitcher Homer Bailey came within two innings of his third career no hitter. As June has come to an end, here are this week’s MLB standout players of the week.
AL Standout – Kyle Seager
Seattle Mariners third basemen Kyle Seager had quite a week for the surging Mariners team. I told everyone and pretty much got laughed at that the Mariners would be a contender for a wild card team and look the scenario we have, if the season ended today the Mariners would get a wild card spot. Now I know were still in the first half of the season and still got many more games to go, but the Mariners are playing great baseball and I look for them to continue to get better. Saying that, Seager had quite a week for himself at the plate with a .583 batting average, .583 OBP, .953 SLG, and he added two home runs to eight RBI. Kyle Seager is this week’s AL standout player of the week.
NL Standout – Giancarlo Stanton
Miami Marlins slugging outfielder Giancarlo Stanton had a nice week at the plate for a Marlins team that is still in the NL East race. We all know Stanton is a star right now because not only does he hit home runs that go about 600 feet but this year he’s proven to be a real good hitter to go along with his power with a .313/.408/.590 stat line so far this season and this week has one of his more better ones in his career. With a .429 batting average, .556 OBP, .643 SLG, and added one home run to two RBI, Giancarlo Stanton is this NL Standout player of the week.
Surprise and Disappointment – San Francisco Giants
At one point, the San Francisco Giants had the largest lead in a division in the majors at 6.5 games but the end of June had not been too kind to the Giants and they now find themselves in a tie with their rival Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead. And to top that manager Bruce Bochy announced that Sergio Romo will no longer be the closer but be a part of a closer by committee that has a history of not working, just ask the Detroit Tigers. With this past weekend sweep to the Cincinnati Reds, the Giants finished June with a 10-16 record and their lead all but gone as the first half winds down.
The last few years, June hasn’t been to kind this team at all and the last two weeks stats prove it for this year. In the last two weeks, the Giants state line of .218/.267/.316 put them as the forth worst team batting wise with only scoring 31 runs which is worst in the majors during this two week stretch. If you can’t score you can’t win us usually the general rule. While the Giants struggle at the plate, their pitching hasn’t been any better.
Besides Tim Lincecum’s no hitter this week, Giants pitching has been not quite up to par as well. In the same two week stretch, the Giants have a team ERA of 4.46, 1.15 WHIP, and .252 opponents batting average which for somewhat has kept them in games, their bats have been letting them down and now has made the NL West a tight race going in rest of the way. Now we still have the second half to go so I don’t think it’s time to push the panic meter but it the San Francisco Giants want to win this division for the Dodgers then something needs to change.
What a way to end the month of June with the third no hitter of the season and excellent play at the plate. While Seager and Stanton stood above the rest in their respective leagues, the San Francisco Giants continue to have their June struggles that have cost them a nice lead in the NL West, June has been yet another exciting month of baseball and I look forward to July being just as exciting.
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